


Descendants of Equilibrium

by GrayRose



Series: The Balance of Wings [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angels and Demons, Child Sephiroth, Hojo is GOOD, Human Experimentation, Lucrecia was insane, Nibelheim, Pre-Nibelheim Incident, Storytale, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 08:33:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7260277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayRose/pseuds/GrayRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>The Past:</b> A woman gone mad. An experiment unsanctioned. A mansion with a man in a coffin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N : This story is a prequel to my other piece _The Weight of Our Wings._ ** It’s the version of the experimentation in Nibelheim, what happened between Vincent, Lucrecia, and Hojo. This being AU, a lot of things are different.  
SHINRA = The company  
Shinra = The man  


**Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot, and my writing style.

        The woman eyed the glowing green tank with poorly masked disdain. This was the reason she became a scientist, joined SHINRA. The company allowed her access to everything she needed. She could continue one of the three oldest races. Hojo was a fool, he knew nothing. Everyone knew nothing, except Her. She would mother the absolute best and raise it by impressing upon it the fact that it is far superior to everyone around it including herself. This she thought as she rubbed her swelling stomach. A slight movement in the tank caught her eye, and she gave it a swift kick for good measure. The lifeless corpse in it was a mere remnant of what could have been, what once was a great race. The only obstacle now was disposing of her ex. She never should have dated a damn Turk. Turning back to the file she was studying, she pushed a lock of brown hair out of her face and behind her ear, and smiled in such a way that the lab assistants all scurried to move out of her vision.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Nibelheim was a place of experimentation, without doubt. Once the mansion was built scientists from SHINRA laboratories all over the world showed up to participate and observe. It made sense then, that the alien body would be brought there, to study and experiment with. Lucrecia herself was allowed to name it. Being the only female scientist in Gaia forsaken Nibelheim, she was often given such menial tasks. But she had heard the voice and knew the being already had a name. A beautiful name, Jenova. Hojo was starting to get in the way though, so Lucrecia knew she had to make her move. He was becoming caring, clingy even, now that he knew she was pregnant with his child. It was a pity Vincent had refused to continue his genetic line, he was a damn fine specimen. He was also a Turk though, and that had become a problem. He had seen her notes, he was suspicious. He had to disappear.  


        That was the reason she had called him today, asked to talk with him in Hojo’s office. The professor himself wasn’t there, which only served to further her goals. A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts just then, and Vincent’s deep voice came through. “Enter” she replied, his permission granted. As he opened the door and stepped in, she once more lamented that the child would not carry his genes. Not naturally at least. “So good to see you Valentine,” she purred, moving around him to lock the door. At the click of the lock his spine straightened, she could tell his Turk reflexes were kicking in. “Sorry for calling you here so suddenly, but we really need to talk about your interference with the JENOVA study.”  
        “Interference?” he questioned, turning to face her.  
        “Yes, you shouldn’t have stuffed your nose into my business. And now you will die for that mistake.” She lifted the gun. Before he could move an ear splitting noise came from a device in her other hand, rendering him immobile. He felt his eardrums pop, could feel blood running warmly down his neck. And then pain flowering as a bullet pierced his chest. Falling to the floor, he could make out Lucrecia’s form, wiping her prints from the gun and moving to set it inside Hojo’s desk.  


        She leaned over him. “You know, I never did love you. Love is a ridiculous concept. Emotions have no purpose, attachments are messy. Much like science experiments. None of the fools around here realise what She is. JENOVA is far more important than anyone here, than anyone anywhere.” She paused, standing up and turning to the door. “I am going to leave you here, dying alone. Actually, you were alone the moment you set your eyes on me. You introduced me to Hojo, to SHINRA business, and that is all I needed from you. Had you decided to carry on your genetic line, we could have created a most fine specimen. Instead, I had to resort to that fool of a man Hojo. Great genetics, but not as fine as yours. Although, now that I have a specimen” she rubbed her stomach, “I don’t need Hojo either. I am a lead scientist, I have everything I need for this to work. Hojo will take the blame then, for your death. Maybe a few others if they get in my way.” She unlocked the door. 

        Turning one last time to see Vincent’s eyes following her, filled with confusion, understanding, and emotional pain at her betrayal of his trust all at once, she shook her head. “What a waste of good DNA.” And with that she left, closing the door behind her, making her way to the lower labs and to the extra terrestrial that only she understood. Only Lucrecia knew what JENOVA really was, what her son would become if she added the creature’s genes. JENOVA had told her so.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Hojo, seated in his car with the engine purring, paused a moment as he mulled over what work he could do from home. There were a good number of things, including… Ah, the protomateria research. He’d left the files in his office.  


        Pulling the key out of the ignition, he let the engine die. It took a few minutes to get to the floor above the basement levels, during which he thought of his wife, and their unborn child. Before meeting Lucrecia, he never would have bothered with procreation. But something, something about her made it all seem right. They both carried good genes, had no blaring health problems in family history. True there was her ex, Vincent, wandering around but the Turk seemed less interested in females in general now that Lucrecia moved on. Little competition to be found there. At his office door now, he swung it open. And froze.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Not one to panic, Hojo swept in to check Vincent’s pulse. It was faint. So weak the man was probably seconds away from death. Cause, bullet wound. Location, chest. Blood loss, excessive. Vincent was not allowed to die. He was, surprisingly, the only person Hojo found he was close to, not that he would ever admit it to the expressionless man. Vincent had to live.  


        Brushing his hands over his pockets, he cursed. He had no potions, no materia. Well, no cure materia. The only materia in the room was the protomateria and that would… Well, not much time to waste considering the consequences. Rushing over to the bookcase and pulling out a thick fairytale book, he opened it to reveal the silently glowing orb resting in the space cut out of the pages. Tossing the book on the ground as he turned, he knelt by Vincent’s side and thrust the materia into the bloody mess, and watched with furrowed brows as the Turk’s body absorbed it, the light fading and wound slowly stitching itself up. It would take time for the internal damage to heal, but his pulse was returning. Stable. Vincent was unresponsive, but stable, he thought with relief. But who could have gotten access…. Lucrecia! The intruder could have gone after her as well! Spinning towards the door he began frantically making his way to the lower labs where she always stayed this late at night. Vincent would have to wait, his wife and unborn child might be in mortal danger!

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Bursting into the labs, the only lights left on were in JENOVA’s chamber, and the observation room next to it. She would be there, but no one else was down here! The door to the chamber was inside the observation room, so he worked his way there as swiftly as possible. Just in time to see his beloved Lucrecia injecting her swollen stomach with a dark liquid, two empty syringes on the floor, a full one on a tray next to her. Jerking the door handle, it doesn’t budge. Swiping his ID, the reader goes red. Access denied. Banging on the glass viewing panel, she looks up and smiles as she continues injecting the third syringe.  


        “Lucrecia! I don’t understand!” he yells, before coming to fully realise what she was injecting, and where. JENOVA cells. Concentrated JENOVA cells, straight into the amniotic sac. “Stop! Lucrecia! We haven’t finished studying it, there’s no knowing what that will do! Our child-” he gets cut off as a flash of red and leather wings streaks by, shattering the observation glass. The mass that appears to be a mutated Vincent falls to the floor, once more silent and unconscious in the chamber. Returning his focus to Lucrecia and the unborn babe, she had picked up the fourth syringe, now only three quarters full as she continued injecting herself. Tackling her and removing the syringe from her hand, he threw it down the incinerator shaft, before turning back to his wife, completely at a loss. It was then she spoke up, her voice in a tone she had never once used on him.  


        “Hojo, you’re a fool. All you do is study with your nose in the books and your eye over a microscope. I, am not like you. I will be great. I am great. I have actually done something, unlike you who are wasting your life away. If only you were as intelligent as I, if She told you of the old races. You could have helped us instead of impeding our progress.” She rose from the floor where he had tackled her moments before, moving to the cupboard to gather more syringes. “There are three very powerful old races, Hojo, and they are dying. Becoming extinct. I will not let that happen. Our child, this specimen, will be the finest, the strongest, the best in everyth-” Vincent, or the mutated form that once was Vincent, slammed into her. Latching on to her limbs the creature headed towards the far wall, which begins to bend and warp until a tunnel forms, ascending to ground level. Moments pass as what used to be Vincent carried Lucrecia out, her vague shrieking drifting back to him. Something about angels. Something about ancient Cetra people. The last thing he heard though, was something about demons, and their child.

 **A/N** : I chose to make Hojo innocent because it’s not done very often. Most fics have him as the main villain and I wanted to switch things up. Once again, this is prequel to _The Weight of Our Wings._ Please note that this is my FIRST fanfiction. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.


	2. Repentance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A woman gone mad. An experiment unsanctioned. A mansion with a man in a coffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N** : I have no idea how long the chapters will be. They end at what feels like a good stopping point so length will vary.
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot, and my writing style.

        After getting over the confusion of what had just occurred, Hojo patched himself up. No serious injuries, but several deep cuts from the shattered observation glass and his tumble to the ground when he tackled his wife. His completely insane wife.  


        Pushing that thought out of his head, he called the incident in to SHINRA headquarters in Midgar. The remaining security at the mansion was next, all of whom arrived within minutes. Seeing no reason to keep them wandering around the mansion, he sent them in search of his missing co-workers. “Dr. Crescent will likely be unstable and may resist recovery. Valentine… Might not be himself. I had to infuse the experimental protomateria into him to keep him alive, and it seems to have, ehem,” he coughed, “ _backfired._ He has mutated so be cautious, and do not startle him. Or shoot him. Or… just… bring them back alive, please.” The guards looked at him, suspicion and fear clear in their eyes. Nevertheless, they turned and marched out in the direction the tunnel left. And Hojo was left alone, in a destroyed lab, staring at lifeless alien body. Oh how much he wished to destroy it, but the company would have his head if he did.

         Close to half an hour passed before he heard another sound. A bit of a growl at the top of the tunnel, and heavy footsteps trudging down the dirt inside it. Two feet, by the sound of it. Hojo looked up in time to see what used to be Vincent Valentine, the Turk, enter the chamber as a taller version of his original, skin tinged dark purple, glowing golden eyes, and the massive leather wings he’d seen before. Whether or not it was still Vincent, the thing had consciousness. Its eyes locked on Hojo’s and for a moment he trembled in fear, before noticing the small bundle of red cloth in its arms. Cloth with a small child wrapped tightly inside of it. Noting where his eyes lingered, the Vincent creature looked down at the prematurely born babe before lifting his head once more. In a voice that was not Vincent’s, it spoke.

 _ **“Take care of this. Guard him with your life before she takes control… Mother Gaia entrusts him to you... ”**_ he trailed off. Handing the infant to Hojo, the Vincent creature becomes still. No sooner than Hojo turns his back to try and save his child, does the Vincent creature collapse. The wings slowly disappear, the skin returns to its usual pale tones, and the eyes revert to their natural red. Only now they glow with the light of mako shining behind them, before the lids steadily close as the once-again-Turk slips into unconsciousness.  


        Having finished with the infant and taken it upstairs for the sole maid in the mansion to take care of, he returns to Vincent’s inert form. Despite every medical treatment he tries, the Turk does not wake.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

         In the next few hours he reviewed the security feed from his office, and the security details begin returning, group by group. Most found only monsters, no trace of his wife. As the last few groups drift in, they inform him they’ve found Dr. Crescent, and lead him to Lucrecia’s resting place. A large cave, glowing with lichen. His beautiful woman gone mad, encased in glowing crystal. Now though, he knows what lies beneath that serene facade. A cold, apathetic creature of manipulation and deceit. A true monster, that had every intention of killing Valentine and framing him for the death. An abomination of human kind that would use a man solely for his genetics, and perform unsanctioned, untested, inhuman experiments on their unborn son. Now he knows that only rot lies beneath that pretty shell. Inside the crystal, he can see her abdomen is torn open with jagged edges of flesh where the child was ripped out. It is not healing, but she is in a form of stasis. Neither dead or alive. Trapped in an eternal void that for all manner of reasons, Hojo was content to leave her floating in indefinitely.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Not until a week later does Vincent rise long enough to reveal the change in his persona. Long enough to tell Hojo the unconscious state is his own will. “I must repent. It is my punishment for Lucrecia’s end. I no longer belong in the human world, I am no longer human. I am… a monster”. At this, Hojo tries to convince him otherwise, that he can explain Vincent’s new body through science, that it was his own actions that led to the protomateria being embedded in Vincent, keeping him alive. His reasoning goes ignored, as Vincent rises to his full height and hushes him. “It is not my cells that are vile, it is the actions I have taken to ensure the planet’s survival, to heed the call of Gaia as it echoes in my soulless heart... “ he trails off. Following the man, slowly, to the lowest level of the basement, he watches as Vincent lowers himself into a random specimen coffin. Before closing the lid on himself he looks at Hojo as though these are his last words. His arms crossed across his chest, his guns resting in their holsters at his hips, he says “Tell them all that I am dead. _Death_ is the only life I deserve. Raise him well, Professor.” And with that the coffin closed, only silence left behind.  


        With the utter finality in Vincent’s words, Hojo could not deny him his repentance. For the time being, he would respect the wishes of Vincent Valentine, and leave him be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : This is a LOT of important background stuff that explains why some things happen in the main fic. There's 3 more chapters worth so you'll just have to put up with it. Please? *blink blink*


	3. The Coming Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A woman gone mad. An experiment unsanctioned. A mansion with a man in a coffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N** : Skipping over 5 ½ years. 
> 
> **Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot, and my writing style.

_Five and a half years…_ Hojo thought as sat in his office. The mansion in Nibelheim was less busy now. Scientists no longer came to observe or experiment. That was Hojo’s job, and the material in Nibelheim had been classified.  


        After the incident with Lucrecia, and Vincent locking himself away in the basement, President Shinra had visited and declared the alien a Cetra, with no evidence to prove it. Being a lower division scientists at the time, Hojo could say nothing against the man. One of the most influential figures in the world. Nevertheless, when Shinra started spouting nonsense about Cetra leading him to the Promised Land, Hojo knew it was nothing good. He was made head of the JENOVA project, supposed to create a new Cetra, and head of the Mako Enhancement Research division, to create super-soldiers, Shinra had said. That of course, was always an option, so he could take over the world. A maniacal laugh had followed that statement. Hojo couldn’t tell if it was a joke, or if the man was serious. Either way, construction on the first mako reactor also began, in the mountains near Nibelheim. Under orders from the Director of SHINRA’s Science and Research department, most of Hojo’s was mostly to be spent on mako studies.  


        Nevertheless, he remained for over _five years_ , studying the dead creature and powerful element. Some other scientist had sent for samples and begun an experiment in Gongaga, trying to replicate the process used on his and Lucrecia’s child. After much deliberation, he’d named the boy Sephiroth. Truthfully he had sat in Vincent’s room in the basement and played awful attempts at Wutaian music until the ex-Turk gave in and assisted with the naming process. Where the name came from he had no idea, but it seemed Vincent hadn’t a clue either. The man said one of the voices in his head offered the suggestion, right before crawling back into the coffin.  


        Though he was nearing a breakthrough on the super-soldier theory, Hojo focused more on what might happen to his young son, who was already showing unusual traits. The boy’s behaviour was normal, if a little destructive. It was his appearance that unsettled the townspeople. His hair was silver, and long. So far nothing had been able cut it, much to the boy’s annoyance. He chuckled quietly as he recalled the chainsaw incident, that had been unexpected. At five years old though, he was already rebelling, refusing to go into town. No doubt the boy feared discrimination from the other children in the area, it had happened before. Being the only other present in the mansion, Hojo was the one to wander out to Nibelheim for supplies and food.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        It was on one of these early morning visits a commotion had broken out at the town square, by the fountain with nibel wolf statues in it. He would never understand why some clueless idiot had built a _fountain_ in such a cold place. It was always full of ice rather than running water. Nevertheless Hojo wandered over to the small crowd. Seemed as though the entire population of Nibelheim was out and about, muttering in confusion over the commotion. Hearing Markus’ low voice, the general store owner, calling out for a doctor, Hojo pushed his way through the gathering. To his surprise, the man was kneeling next to an unconscious female. She was leaned against the fountain edge, wrapped in a filthy blanket that was frozen stiff, with a thin gray scarf pulled over her head and around her shoulders.  


        Quickly settling next to Markus, he set to work checking her pulse. As the gathering noticed his presence they gave him space to work. Seeing as how he was currently the only doctor near the town, they knew him rather well at this point. The last doctor had gotten a hand bitten off by a Nibel wolf and left indefinitely for Costa Del Sol. Shaking his head to free it of superficial thoughts, he refocused his attention on the woman. Markus relayed what he knew as Hojo checked for vital signs, shining a flashlight in the pupils and checking for bodily damage. The baker’s son Antaun had been out for a morning bread delivery and discovered the figure slumped in it’s present location. No one had moved her yet because she might have been injured. On more than one occasion Hojo had to explain that moving a patient with a spinal, head, or back injury before said injury was identified could result in paralysis or worse. It had taken a few poor individuals before the idea really set in. In this case however, he could identify no serious wounds. There was a very fresh scar on her abdomen, but it was healing on its own. Given the strange situation she no doubt had some psychological damage. _Why on Gaia would a stranger wonder into Nibelheim in the middle of the night?_ He wondered. Motioning for two of the burlier men to lift her, he set off towards the mansion. Groceries would have to wait. No doubt Sephiroth would be annoyed, he sighed.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        As Rallace and Teylor, the two burly men, followed him up to the mansion, he could see a silver blur from one of the windows. As they approached the door it opened slightly and Sephiroth poked his head out with curious eyes. While not entirely understanding the situation, the boy had seen injured people being carried into his home before and knew what to do. Pulling the door open he turned and bolted off to one of the side halls Hojo typically used as his medical wing. Motioning the men to follow the boy, he wandered off to find wheelable monitoring devices and an IV stand. By the time he returned to the side hall and entered the first room, Rallace and Teylor had left, and Sephiroth was sitting in a chair intently watching the woman on the bed. Her breathing was as even as it had been in the town, but she showed no signs of waking. Despite his medical attention, she remained that way for many days, during which he discovered she was both underweight and dehydrated. Of course, nothing was ever so simple. She was also roughly two months pregnant. He might need to call one of the townswomen in to help with the coming changes. Hojo had no experience in delivering an infant, seeing as his own was ripped prematurely from the womb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : Yes, the woman is Ms. Strife. She is approximately 24 years old. Hojo is 30, Vincent is 29.


	4. Anjels and Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A woman gone mad. An experiment unsanctioned. A mansion with a man in a coffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N** : Cloud is born, Sephiroth is 6.
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot, and my writing style.

        Around the time Sephiroth’s sixth birthday came about, he sat staring wide eyed at the monitor in front of him. Turning, he observed his father, working on a computer and keeping an eye on the blond woman’s vital signs. She had finally woken up a few weeks after the townsmen carried through the door. She had not said anything in the months it had been, and the light in her eyes was dim. Sephiroth briefly pondered what might have left her in such a state, but his thoughts were once more interrupted as another scream split the air from the next room over. In the miracle of childbirth, that bothered him the most because the house was usually silent. The woman was usually silent too, and now she screamed.

        When the contractions had started, he knew what was happening of course, had read about it in some of the medical books around the house. But nothing compared to actually seeing the pain on her face, or hearing it in her _screams_. It had come as a relief when the townswomen finally arrived at the mansion and pushed him out of the room. He had been assisting Hojo with what they could do until the women came to do the rest. Now they sat in the side room, watching monitor readouts and a video stream of her face. The video was for Sephiroth’s education, his father had said. So when he was older he wouldn’t go around and impregnate anyone. Sephiroth suspected there was a valid reason behind not wanting him to breed, but watching this video he did not particularly care. No bloody way would he ever make someone go through _this_. It had already been a few hours, much too long in his opinion. Sighing quietly, he stood up to leave. His father glanced at him, nodded, and turned back to the computer. As an even louder shrieks came through the wall, he decided to visit the coffins. It was always dead silent in the basement, and Valentine never felt the need to talk. Even if the man didn’t enjoy the company, at least Chaos did. He still had to ask father what the thing was, exactly. It was obviously more than a split personality.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        After close to nine hours, Hojo was exhausted but happy to hear the small cries of a newborn. Knowing it was safe to enter the woman’s room again, he was surprised to see her sitting up with a spark of life in her eyes. When the child started to come half a month early, he had hoped they would be able to save it but was not sure the mother would make it through. She was frail, and very pale, and he had no way to know if that was her natural skin tone. She had started to eat a bit more, but was light had very little muscle. Now though, the effort of birthing had left her face slightly pink, and her eyes held a glint of hope, a hint that there was a personality in there somewhere as she stared down at the bundle Lyna had wrapped and placed into her arms. He could hear the other women shifting about, preparing to head home, a soft whisper that they would tell Markus that Lyna would stay the night to look after the babe. Quickly moving on from their departure, he moved closer to have a look. Based on the green fabric surrounding the infant, it was a boy. There were whispers of platinum hair, and the boy no longer screamed having already adjusted to breathing and living outside of his mother. Hojo was startled out of his musings when a soft, delicate clearing of a throat entered his hearing, looking up to see the woman staring straight at him. She had not made eye contact with anyone up to this point, so to stare into those oceanic blue orbs was nearly hypnotic. If he were a superstitious man, he would have sworn there were waves rolling and crashing about in there. As a man of science though, he simply recognised a form of beauty so rare and pure and unusual. With the interracial and cross continental breeding, blond hair was already a rarity and the mutation for blue eyes was quickly becoming extinct. The combination of both was seen only on a few select individuals, discounting the Shinra family since that was probably a product of incest. 

        About to speak, Hojo was shoved aside as a black and red blur sped into the room. In a moment, Vincent had appeared at the woman’s side. Or, he thought as he took a closer look, the Vincent creature. The skin was tinged purple and the wings were out once more. That was something he still had to look into, he reminded himself, but brushed the thought aside as it spoke.

_**“Born is our light, human. Gaia has approved.”**          _She looked sharply at the Vincent creature, taking in his skin and wings before reconnecting with the golden eyes. “Balance…” she whispered, fear only slightly evident as she tightened her grip, shooting a glance at Hojo briefly.  
_**“Calamity arrived long before the Anjel, human. The count is stable, if half unbonded.”** _it paused, _ **“Host is making himself a nuisance, the rest is yours to discern.”**_ It turned to leave the room. Making way, Hojo stepped aside, only for the beast to freeze in the doorway as a small silver haired youth stood in its path. For a few moments, no one spoke. Eventually the creature turned back to the woman, and smiled. It was not the most inviting smile, but clearly the best the thing could manage in a face that was not its own. _**“Mother Gaia sends a gift to you, Ayira Strife.”**_ And with that it slid Sephiroth aside and wandered off in the mansion.___ _

____**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**_ _ _ _

____It had taken a few months for things to settle down after that. The creature, whose name is Chaos, was one of four held inside Vincent’s body. Being the strongest, he kept the others at bay in the ex-Turk’s subconscious, and occasionally took over the man’s body. How Sephiroth had gotten this information before him, he could only attribute to how much time the boy spent in the basement. They seemed to be friends, of sorts._ _ _ _

____Hearing what he heard the day Cloud was born, yes she had named him Cloud, Hojo had only hoped the woman, _Ayira_ , he corrected, would stay to live in the mansion for a time, and was pleasantly surprised when she agreed. After all, she had been here a number of months already and knew her way about the halls. What she and Chaos had spoken of was not discussed, though he had a feeling she would explain it all in due time. The mention of an Anjel had reminded him so strongly of Lucrecia’s last words to him, and with any kind of _balance_ as Ayira had whispered, there has to be an opposite, meaning Demons. Lucrecia had said their son would be a Demon. He could not pry though, would not allow himself to pain Ayira in any way. From the brief conversations he’d had with her so far, she was running from something, or _someone_ that utterly terrified her. His main theory, given the state she was found in, was that the father clearly had something to do with it. But again, he refused to press for information. For a time she lived in the mansion, cleaned and shopped and cooked for him as a method of repayment, though Hojo insisted it wasn’t necessary. In roughly a year from her arrival the town had built her a small two story house near the edge closest to the mansion, where she moved with her son._ _ _ _

____Her boy was often the talk of the town, which she seemed to dislike. The women fawned over him and he’d seen some of the men letting him play with their rougher fingers. He remained the youngest in Nibelheim, until the Mayor’s daughter Tifa was born when he was two. The mayor’s wife often visited Ayira in her small home, bringing Tifa to hear the woman’s story. Many of the elder children would gather around the place as well, while Ayira told stories of an Anjel and a Demon to them, even though Cloud and Tifa were too young to understand what was going on. Hojo had begun bringing Sephiroth to listen, though he himself was equally as interested._ _ _ _

____**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**_ _ _ _

____The story often began with the lifestream, made of an element that all planets have called mako. That was a real scientific theory, he knew. The SHINRA company was already using mako as an energy source. _“Most of it is normal, there is a little bit of mako inside everything that lives.”_ She would point at each and every one of them and tell them they have it too. _“But”_ , she would say, _“a very small amount of it is dark. People with this kind of mako destroy things. They are called Demons.”_ This would frighten the children and she would go on to explain that Demons are not evil, it’s just natural for them to break things. Like boys who break their mother’s lamps or kick a ball through a window. _“But there is also light mako, in people who heal things. We call them Anjels.”_ she would say, spelling it out for them. The most notable feature was that Anjels and Demons have massive feathered wings. They can bring them out and hide them away with magic._ _ _ _

____She would only tell little bits of the story each week, even when the children begged her to continue. _“Your mothers will want you home for dinner.”_ she often reminded, telling them the story was not as important as being healthy, or getting chores and _homework_ done, which always had a few of the older boys groaning. While that rang true for the children, Hojo suspected the story had a much deeper meaning, and was some form of knowledge being subtly passed down to future generations whether they knew it or not. It started out with a commonly accepted scientific theory after all, and there was not much information available on the effect of mako on the planet yet. He eventually learned to silence his scientific mind and simply listen, and found himself looking forward to the tale each week. Especially once the real story started, on a different planet called Earth._ _ _ _

____The Demons on Earth eventually started to live together because no one else liked them. The Anjels lived with each other because they couldn’t get away from the normal people. As each married, and had kids, and died, their numbers got smaller. _“Eventually there was only one Demon, named Jenova, and one Anjel, named Mykahyl, left on Earth.”_ Hojo often wondered why she named the demon after his JENOVA project. He supposed the thing _was_ pretty demonic looking. Not as much as Chaos, but still._ _ _ _

____Jenova was in love with Mykahyl, but he did not love her back. She started to get angry, and hurt the people around him. Hurt the planet by burning its forests. So Mykahyl took to the stars and traveled to a different planet to escape from her. Jenova decided to chase him, but if she went to the new planet Mykahyl would leave. So she did something different. She used the dark mako inside of her to travel backwards in time, to get to the new planet before Mykahyl so she could explain her feelings better once he got there. That was apparently a bad idea. _“When Jenova left Earth, she took all her dark mako with her. Can you have light without a shadow?”_ The children would all shake their heads. _“No, you can’t. So Earth started to die.”_ The children would wait, holding their breaths, and Ayira would laugh, and send them home for the day. _ _ _ _

____At this point all the children in the village came to listen to the story, and couldn’t focus in school. Mayor Lockhart had to ask if she would tell the story a few days a week instead of one. So every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening, the small comfortable Strife house would fill with children eager to hear more, and parents who came to learn what had their offspring so excited. It was crowded, but no one seemed to mind as long as they could hear Ayira’s voice._ _ _ _

____Much to the annoyance of all involved, the story never returned to Earth. The next day began on the new planet, when Jenova arrived almost 2000 years early. There were lots of Demons there, and she lived with them for a little time. Then the Anjels came and tried to get rid of her. Jenova brought Earth’s dark mako to the planet, so there was more dark than light. To save their planet, the Anjels, the humans, and even the Demons fought against Jenova. They did not want to kill her, so they encased her in ice and buried her in a crater so her mako could not spread. Two thousand years later, Earth finally died and Mykahyl arrived on the planet. People barely had any mako in them now, and the ones who still did could talk to the planet. Everyone called them Ancients or Cetra. Mykahyl was afraid of unbalancing the light mako there, but the Cetra told him it was okay, that there was already too much dark mako here. They never told him why, or how it got there. He never knew Jenova was on the same planet. He forgot all about her and so did everyone else. Eventually Mykahyl found a home, and someone to love, and Jenova stayed frozen forever._ _ _ _

____**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**_ _ _ _

____It had taken almost a month for Ayira to tell the whole story, and she retold it more than once. As the time passed Hojo watched the town children understand more each time, learning to ask questions. Most of them he already knew the answers to, but one of them caught his attention. It was towards the end of an evening, on a day she had finished telling the whole story again, when one of the older girls brought the issue up._ _ _ _

____“Miss Strife? You’ve never told us, what was the name of the second planet?” Ayira grew solemn, and quietly asked the girl to stay for dinner while ushering everyone else out the door. Everyone but Hojo and Sephiroth of course, the closest she had to family. As the girl helped prepare dinner, Sephiroth stared at the two and a half year old boy watching him from the corner of the small living room. Cloud was often around the mansion while Ayira cleaned, but they never spoke. At eight and a half Sephiroth felt he had nothing to talk about with the child, but his father kept insisting he interact with the boy, muttering about social outcasts and emotional stunts. So far, staring contests were the most interaction they’d had and he was content to keep it that way._ _ _ _

____In the kitchen, Hojo was grabbing plates and listening to the conversation between the two females. When Ayira finally brought up the earlier question, he felt his anticipation rise. Something about her reaction when the question was asked, when her eyes clouded as she told the story. It was important. He had to know the answer. Watching as the woman turned to face the girl, who he identified as the baker’s daughter Omylia, he set the plates in his hands on the counter and leaned forward to hear. And what he heard, he crammed into the lower reaches of his brain to think about later. He couldn’t really process it at the moment, trying to decide if he believed it or not._ _ _ _

____“Dear, do you know why I wanted to send everyone home before I answered your question?” The girl shook her head. “It is because the answer is my secret.” She brushed a hand through Omylia’s hair. “What I am about to tell you, you must not share with anyone. It is dangerous, but it is the truth. I am telling you because you are the only one who asked that question.” Sighing, Ayira sat on the kitchen floor and pulled Omylia down with her. “The end of the story is not the real end.” The girl’s eyes widen. “I will not tell you what happened, it is not for young ears such as yours.” Ayira looked over the girl’s shoulder, straight at Hojo. “The name of the second planet is Gaia.” a pause, “And Mykahyl is the father of my son.”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn. So, what do you all think so far? **be honest**


	5. Quickly Through The Ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A woman gone mad. An experiment unsanctioned. A mansion with a man in a coffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N** : Cloud is now 3. Hojo finds out what really happened at the end of the story.
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot, and my writing style.

        It had been half a year since that evening in the Strife kitchen, a night that left Hojo lost in his own thoughts. They had not spoken of it yet, but he wrote out possible scenarios on what might have happened if the story were true. If Anjels and Demons existed as a byproduct of the lifestream. If his son was a Demon. If Cloud might be an Anjel. If all of it were real, why had Ayira come to Nibelheim? Why had she left Mykahyl and taken his son with her? So many unanswered questions had been swirling in his mind, distracting him from his research. So caught up in thought he failed to notice Ayira and Sephiroth entering his study, he jolted upright when the silver haired youth dropped a large stack of books on his desk and supplied, “I have finished these. Please provide more reading material, Father.” 

        Ayira had started dusting the bookcases by the time he formulated a response. Once more he reminded himself not to pry, not to press the information out of her. “Yes Sephiroth, we should have a package of texts from Wutai arriving in the next few days.” He smiled, now standing and placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. A shoulder which was quickly catching up to his own. The boy had grown so much, physically and mentally, that Hojo could be nothing but proud. Internally though, his concern had risen once Sephiroth had begun using formal, almost clinical speech patterns and avoiding contractions. Not even a pre-teen and he shut himself away in his room, or with Vincent, pushing away human contact. Nine years old and a bloody genius.

        Ayira’s boy, too, had grown. He had seen the changes, limbs starting to lengthen, hair standing up on end in massive tufts and spikes. And every passing day Hojo saw more intelligence, more wisdom and understanding held within those crystalline ice blue eyes. What he found disconcerting though, were the similarities between the two boys. Cloud’s emotions were sheltered, his face flat and often expressionless. With no one his age to play with, and not wanting to _play_ at all, the boy moved through his life functioning best he could. A calculating, practical individual that gets things done before heading off into the mountains. The town had been shocked the first time he wandered back in, a three year old with scratches all over, and what looked like nibbling marks from a Nibel wolf on one forearm. He knew the people of Nibelheim questioned Ayira’s parenting ideas, but after learning the father was a danger to her son and she was hiding from him, they left it at that. In fact, in some odd attempt at protecting the single mother and her son, they came to ignore them completely. When strangers came to Nibelheim, they were told to stay away from the Strife family, to make sure no one got curious.

        Either way, he watched as her boy, and his own child, grew quickly through the ages. Ayira herself had become his closest companion, with whom he discussed his research. She seemed to understand the theories, if not the specific data and information. Some of it she appeared weary of, including anything to do with JENOVA, and he begun to suspect her stories held more truth in them than anyone knew. While he hid this information from the company, he asked for Ayira’s assistance quite often. In some time, he discovered what she believed was the dark mako in Jenova’s DNA. There was a larger amount of it in Sephiroth’s DNA, he noted. As far as he could tell, it was a slightly unstable isotope of mako, having one less neutron. Spare samples from Cloud’s health checkups revealed a different version of the molecules, a stable isotope with one additional neutron. Not a very creative person when it came to labeling things, he named the respective molecules Demonako, and Anjemako.

        At some point Ayira shared the truth of what happened with the Anjel, Mykhayl, after it came up in conversation. Even though the remaining Cetra had assured him Gaia was balanced now that he was here, he could not believe it. They refused to tell him where the extra dark mako, Demonako, had come from so he assumed it was all all a lie. When he found out Ayira was pregnant, he went mad. He yelled at her, shouting that all of his Anjemako would transfer to their child when the DNA was copied from his cells. Believing his Anjemako would naturalise and unbalance the planet, he tried to kill the foetus inside of her. That, she explained, was where the scar on her abdomen had come from. He stabbed her, they both watched as it started healing from the inside, and she ran. Hojo in turn explained what happened with Lucrecia and Vincent, if only so she had all the information he could give her. 

        His research had revealed a number of things about Sephiroth’s condition, and the woman’s insight had given him more than a few theories about potential problems. The Demonako molecules in his DNA attracted other Demonako molecules. Their presence was slowly leaving Jenova’s body and increasing in the boy’s. By his calculations, Sephiroth’s cells contained double the amount of Demonako that Jenova originally had. Ayira implied it was the combined molecules from Earth and Gaia, forced into one body and bonded together to keep him stable. Hojo knew it would sound ridiculous to anyone else, but everything he found was evidence that supported things Ayira had claimed. It took a lot of convincing before she agreed to let him look at Cloud’s cells, and there he found the same thing. Two different forms of Anjemako. The only difference being that in Cloud’s cells, they were not bonded together. It reminded him of the day Cloud was born. Chaos had said _“The count is stable, if half unbonded.”_

        For some reason, that statement left a feeling of dread in the pit of Hojo’s stomach. So as he worked on the mako enhancement research, he also studied the interactions of Anjemako and Demonako. What he found was not a good sign.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        Eventually, the breakthrough in his research arrived. He had discovered a method of infusing humans with mako to enhance their strengths and senses. SHINRA company had immediately classified the work as confidential, for Hojo and Hollander’s eyes only. Hollander had been working in Banora, attempting to replicate the process Sephiroth was put through on two other children. Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. They would only have Earth’s Demonako, Hojo mused. They probably would not be stable.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

        When President Shinra arrived in Nibelheim for the second time, Sephiroth was ten years old. News of Hojo’s revelations had reached him in Midgar, and he boasted his new dream. “We’ll have an entire army of Super-Soldiers to make money with in no time! I mean, to protect the people as well, because someone has to. And we can finally take Wutai out of the competition!”

        The man ordered Hojo to move to Midgar, to work as the Director of the Science and Research Department, a position he couldn’t refuse. With the technology and resources available there, he could learn more about the mako isotopes and possibly help his son. His only regrets would be leaving Ayira behind, with a son to take care of and a town that was slowly forgetting why they ostracised her. Vincent would be alone in his coffin, though Cloud would probably visit him, and Jenova’s remains had to stay in Nibelheim. He’d managed to get it classified at the highest levels and labeled as possibly contagious materials. The contraption containing it was moved to the reactor, and sealed in a compartment near the core.

        When the morning finally arrived, he had moved Vincent into the best coffin gil could buy, and said his goodbyes to the town. In his mind it was one of the few things he could do for the ex-Turk, though it took a long, strenuous argument before Vincent allowed himself the luxury item. Leaving money in Ayira’s bank accounts, and a little for Cloud to visit Midgar some day as well as the key to the mansion. His last note was that the name Strife would always be welcome in his home, wherever that might be. Being a moody ten year old, Sephiroth was silent throughout their departure, refusing to say goodbye to the four year old Cloud, who stood with a blank expression and watched as their helicopter took off. The last he saw of the blonde haired youth, he was surprised to see a small, barely noticeable line of water forming in Cloud’s eyes, and Hojo thought to himself that perhaps Ayira’s son was not quite as emotionless as everyone believed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : Whew. Okay, so that’s the history. So guys, please let me know what you think so far, and go read The Weight of Our Wings!


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